In 1953 he settles down in Rio de Janeiro. His training begins in the mid sixties at the Escolinha de Arte do Brasil [Little Art School of Brazil], at Ivan Serpa’s workshop and as an auditor at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes [National School of Fine Arts].

Known as Antonio Manuel, he was part of an active politicized vanguard in Rio de Janeiro at the time of the dictatorial take-over (1964), where the most radical and subversive artistic approaches were launched. He widened the art spectrum by using a multiplicity of techniques, materials and supports in a critical way, not unlike various artists of his generation such as Ana Maria Maiolino, Cildo Meireles or Artur Barrio --an attitude inspired from the theoretical perspectives of recent, key figures of the previous generation such as Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark and Lygia Pape.